Hey tweets, One of the best aspects of birding is that birds do fly,
meaning anything can turn up around the next bend. Such was the case at
the Fill yesterday. I was showing off my favorite place on earth to two
relatives from Minneapolis. Frankly, the Fill was not producing, much to
my chagrin. I told my jet-lagged relatives that I never go home until I
see at least 20 species. They rolled their eyes and groaned under their
breath - we were halfway down the loop trail and had seen only 5 species
(including a Golden-crowned Kinglet, which is rare at the Fill). The bay
was filled with ducks, as expected, but all except a couple Buffleheads
were so far out that they appeared as mere specks. Just as I was opening
my mouth to say something feeble like, "Well, *usually* the Fill is much
better than this," we rounded the curve near the main pond and saw a flock
of 6 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, grazing peacefully among the Canadas. I
have never seen so many Greater White-fronted there in my life. I was so
excited I couldn't tell my relatives what I was looking at. The best I
could do was stutter, "There's a bunch of gggggg." It must have been
rather comical to watch us then, as my son Alex (home for Christmas from
the Marines and just as sharp-eyed a birder as ever) and my two relatives
flashed their binoculars all around looking for whatever might be a ggggg.
I finally managed to say "geese," and they homed in on the flock. As best
we could tell before a dog flushed them, there were 5 juveniles and 1
adult. Beautiful birds.

After that, the Fill just kept giving and giving. Among the highlights:
Cooper's Hawk polishing her bill on a branch
Wood Ducks in breeding plumage
Ruddy Duck (haven't been seeing too many of these at the Fill lately)
Yellow-rumped Warblers (both kinds)
Marsh Wren (I love to see them in winter)

Altogether, we saw 31 species and heard an additional 3- pretty good for a
winter's day. - Connie, Seattle

csidles at isomedia.com